Variation of knee angle and leg length for predicting VO<inf>2max</inf>in healthy male volunteers using the queen’s college step test

Abstract

© JPES. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of body anthropometrics and knee joint angle (at 90 and 60 degrees) on male participants by following the Queen’s College step test (QCT) and directly compare the results with VO2max. The study was designed with 38 randomly selected healthy male participants with a mean age, weight, height, body mass index (BMI), and total leg length of 20.39 years, 58.07 kg, 1.68 m, 20.33 kg.m-2, and 33.78 inches, respectively. Direct VO2maxof all participants was determined using the stationary bicycle exercise test and a gas analyzer. The indirect VO2maxprotocol of QCT was determined by adjustable the height for knee joint flexion at an angle of either 90 or 60 degrees. The results showed that VO2maxfrom the indirect protocol at both 60 and 90 degrees was significantly higher and differed from the direct VO2maxprotocol, with a significantly lower leg fatigue and heart rate recovery. Correlation results were significant between the direct and indirect VO2maxprotocols at both 90 and 60 degrees (p< 0.01). The height, leg length, and BMI showed significant correlation with minute ventilation (VE) during direct VO2max. Whereas, VE correlated significantly with direct VO2max, when compared with both indirect QCT protocols. Finally, the leg length of all participants did not correlate with any VO2max. Therefore, this result indicated that the modification of QCT, with lower leg fatigue from different angles of the knee joint at either 90 or 60 degrees, was overestimated regarding VO2max, height, BMI, and leg length, which correlated with VE but not with the VO2maxresults.